First things first, I have to admit I'm more of a songwriter than a webmaster. Actually, I'm just a songwriter who happens to own a website. Therefore, I decided to save whatever little experience I have as a webmaster for another article and write about link directories from the prespective of an average internet user instead. Just think about it, if you are someone surfing the net for that specific piece of information you badly need, would a huge links directory full of different categories and sub-categories help?

No!! I'd rather use a search engine like Yahoo! or Google. Big links directories like dirspace, axeq or ODP have a number of very serious drawbacks from a user point of view. First, their search scripts are not very powerful. Sometimes, you search for something in the directory and you don't find it, not because it is not there but because the directory search script just doesn't cut it. Second, most of these links directories are designed to be useful for search engine ranking, meaning that they are more search engine friendly than user friendly. This may be the reason why websites' description in these directories are not that informative; the URL submitter will only bother writing a key word rich description, and the directory administrator is just too busy to check. And the result? Misleaded user!!

Finally, even if the links directory is very deep and full of many sub-categories, it will always be impossible to construct enough categories to cover all subjects in a comprehensive and useful manner. For example, a user will not just look for a music website or even a songwriting website, he/she probably wants a "songwriting tips" website because he is having writer's block. How many links directories offer a "songwriting tips" sub-category? One out of the thirty I checked!! As a result, the user will end up either searching through piles of unorganized links or wasting his/her time all together without coming up with the information he/she wants.

So..!?!!

I think that the third problem is the most important one. This is the greatest obstacle I faced as a user; I just can't find the category that fits the topic I want to read about. There is only one way to solve this problem; which is building "Special-Interest Directories". These are simply directories that list websites covering a certain subject. "Special-Interest Directories" have the chance of covering a certain topic deeply and comprehensively. A user would go directly for an "Internet Marketing" directory and will be successful finding a webpage about writing text ads for example. That user saved a lot of time and effort and actually got what he/she wanted. Also, "Special-Interest Directories" are not going to be cluttered with lots of categories and sub-categories like big links directories. Moreover, they will be more user oriented than search engine oriented since the administrator had built them while having the concept of serving internet surfers in mind.

A special-interest links directory is bound to send real, targeted traffic to the webpages it lists. But that's only if the URL submitters would write meaningful description and only if the directory administrator care enough to check if the descriptions they are offered truly reflect the webpage content. Personally, I thought it would be a great way to serve both my fellow songwriters and my fellow webmasters by building a "Music & Songwriting Links Directory". This offers webmasters who run music and songwriting websites a way to increase their traffic and at the same time offer musicians and songwriters a nice source if information.